Nightmares and Eskimo Kisses
by EveryDayBella
Summary: Bucky understands nightmares and he's not about to let his daughter suffer through them. Stucky family fluff.


**AN:**So I had not so great day, sat down to write fluff, and this is what came. Muchos love to Angelycdevil and LyricalKris for beting and LittleLovley and DSS_12 for flaily tweets. I love you girls so much!

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><p><strong>Nightmares and Eskimo Kisses<strong>

Bucky had always been a light sleeper. Even when they were kids building pillow forts in his parents living room, Bucky barely slept. After a very slow recovery from the the Winter Soldier episode he began to sleep better. Steve slept like a rock at a moment's notice.

So it's Bucky who slides into awareness when he hears movement out in the hallway. Immediately alert he pulls away from Steve's warmth and sits up. He listens carefully for anymore movement, the creak of floorboards, a squeaking as a door opens. It;s an old building. It has its own music and Bucky had learned to interpret it's noise almost as soon as they moved in.

Some instincts are harder to ignore than others.

Bucky is just about to reach for the .22 in the nightstand when a little head with thick blond curls appears around the crack Steve had left in the door. Bucky's erratic heartbeat returns to its normal pace as he smiles at the little girl. "Baby, what are you doing up?"

She rubs her sleepy eyes with her fists. "Can I stay with you and Daddy tonight?"

Bucky nods opening his arms in an instant. The little girl runs across the floor and leaps into his waiting arms where she huddles into his chest and begins crying. He's worried again, although for very different reasons. His daughter is too subdued. It's not like her at all and if there is one thing he's good at, it's worrying.

With his six year old daughter clinging to his neck he has to remind himself that everyone is safe. She's in his arms, Steve is asleep next to him.

But she's crying and Bucky can't handle tears.

"It's okay. It's okay, baby girl." He tries to shush her. He rocks her. He rubs her back with her his real hand. He's never been good at this part of fatherhood. Steve is much better with the tears and comforting. Bucky is out of his depth. "Carol, what's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare."

Bucky's mouth goes dry. He knows nightmares. He knows them too well. When he first came back, he'd had nightmares nearly every night. All the things he'd ever done for Hydra, whether he'd been aware of them in the moment or not, had plagued him for years. He clutches Carol a little tighter while his taped together heart breaks. "I'm sorry baby."

"It was really scary, Papa."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He's so grateful Steve's asleep. He'd asked the same thing of Bucky a hundred times and would probably get a kick out of Bucky using it on their daughter.

Carol shakes her head, burrowing deeper into her Papa's neck. Bucky kisses the crown of her head and finds himself repeating Steve again. "It might help?"

She pulls away and looks at him with her big blue eyes. She looks so much like Steve it almost hurts, until she bites her bottom lip and he sees his own manorism reflected back at him. "It will?"

"It's helped me before."

"You get nightmares, Papa?"

Bucky nearly curses. Carol doesn't know about his or Steve's pasts. She's too young, and secretly, Bucky never wants to tell her. When she looks at him he's just a hero, her hero, and he never wants that change. The thought she would ever see the villain that he used to be destroys him. He doesn't want to lie to her, but he doesn't want her to know either.

"Everybody gets nightmares, Baby." Again, Steve's words come pouring out of his mouth. He'll have to remember to thank him in the morning.

"Do you get scared?"

He reaches and carefully brushes tears out from under her eyes. She's precious to him and he would fight every bad guy in the world to save her. It doesn't matter to him. He just has to make her happy.

"Yeah, I've gotten scared by them, but do you want to know the secret?" Her grins at her ecstatic nod. "Daddy was always there to make it better."

Carol giggles. Bucky glances over at the sleeping Steve and almost swears that he sees the other man's lips twitch. "Daddy makes everything better."

"That he does, baby girl," Bucky agrees.

Carol squares her shoulders and presses her lips into a thin line. Bucky knows what that means. It means Carol has decided to do something. She can be quite determined when she wants to be. "In my dream, you and Daddy went out on a mission, and you didn't come back, and I was alone."

Bucky wishes this was the first time that she'd had this nightmare. He supposes it makes sense. If you're parents are superheros you'd probably have the same nightmare. Both of them have tried to talk her through it, but it just hadn't worked. Maybe it was time to take a different approach.

"Do you want to know why that will never happen?" He waits until she nods, her eyes wide and pleading. "Cause Daddy and I made a promise a long time ago that we'd be there for each other till the end of the line. We can't get to the end of the line without you, Baby Girl."

She busts out this smile that makes him melt and for a moment he swears he's in heaven. "You make things better too, Papa."

Bucky's not ashamed to admit there are tears in his eyes when she leans forward to rub her nose against his. That's their thing. Steve gets butterfly kisses. He gets eskimo kisses. "You wanna stay with Daddy and I tonight?" he asks hoarsely.

Her affirmation is enthusiastic and instant.

She ends up cocooned against his side with her blond hair draped against his metal arm. He waits until she's asleep before fixing his sharp eyes on Steve. "How long you been awake, punk?"

Steve smirks and if their daughter hadn't been asleep against him Bucky would have kissed it off. "Since she came in the room."

"So you just let me handle it, huh?"

"You did just fine." Steve shrugs, propping himself up on his elbow.

"Steve, it is way too late at night for I told you so."

"Fine. I'll save it for the morning." Steve kisses Carol's forehead before finding Bucky's lips. "You did a good job."

Bucky smiles one of those rare smiles that crinkles the corners of his eyes as Steve manages to get his arms around both of them. He'll never completely understand how Steve found something in him worth saving, but for the moment he's not going to argue. He's got a family and that's all that matters.

"Till the end of the line, Buck." Steve mutters against his metal arm.

"Till the end of the line, punk."


End file.
